Tag Archives: Spoil of War

Elsbeth loses everything she has ever held dear when her home falls to the enemy in a war. She finds herself at the mercy of men she despises. Her freedom is lost.

While in captivity, she sees the powerlessness of herself and her people in graphic and disgustingly brutal detail.

Over time, she accepts her fate and falls in love with the king that holds her as his personal property and prisoner. But things never go as planned, and when a strange man comes to the castle while the king is away and takes an unwelcome liking to her, it leads her to do things that result in her suffering more abuse at the hands of cruel men.

Will she ever find freedom and happiness again? In a world where a woman is nothing more than property of men?

I struggled to decide if the main character was stupid or just so damn spirited she wanted to make life harder on herself. I found some of her self-made conflict over the top (but she was a redhead…). I also found that no matter where she turned she was being used sexually or flat out raped the entire book. I know that at the time period women were used with no thought as to their comfort or desire, but shouldn’t there have at least been a couple decent men around? The king was about halfway decent, but that was the closest any man in the title was to having a heart.

Despite all of that, the time period was believable, as were a majority of the characters. I did like the book, and although there were some grammar mistakes, they were few and far between.